National Park fees

I've a couple of mates in town (CNX) at the mo so yesterday we decided to jump in the truck and head out to Mae Ngat Dam for the afternoon. On arrival there was one of those mini gates on wheels type barriers and a Thai guy standing there who pointed us in the direction of the hut. I've been to Mae Ngat a few times before but this was the first time I'd experienced this. Anyway, with my very limited Thai and his broken English, it was established that we had to pay 400THB EACH to enter the park, plus 50THB for the truck! The guy asked where we were from and I said I lived here but my mates were visiting. I showed him my Thai drivers licence and got the Thai price of 20THB for myself. After some haggling, we agreed on 200THB for my friends which is the same as the "old" N.P entry fee.

This is the second time this has happened as a week or so back whilst on Silverhawk's new 1252 loop, there was a 400THB sign at the entrance to Jaeson N.P but Dave managed to get the fee waived as he said we were passing through on our way to CNX. It's worth bearing in mind and whilst I haven't verified it, it's probable that this price hike is a national thing but can possibly be circumvented if you can prove you live in Thai as i did with my driving licence. I'd suggest to carry either a DL if you have one, or maybe a copy of your house/condo rental agreement to prove that you live here and hopefully get the Thai price on entering N.Ps.

This price increase went into effect before the coup. They also increased the Thai price. It was later announced that this increase would be delayed 1 year for a select 33 parks, mostly in the South. Everywhere around CM seems to have gone up.

I have managed to get into most of the parks here for the Thai price with showing my Thai license but be aware they are not required to do this. The official policy is FOREIGNORS 400 baht. The fact is that even with a Thai license we are still foreignors and sometimes they will still insist on the full price. Your only options then are to pay or turn around and drive away.

even the 200b fee seems an absolute rip off....it was one of the most disappointing parts of the trip...we were a bit fed up with the Angkhor Wat fees until we had to fork out to see a trickle of a waterfall for 400b.........and that was full of locals who only paid the 20b
thanks for letting me whinge!
Skip and Rache

With good reason to whinge I think. It's not the absolute cost of the old 200 baht or even the new 400 baht fee that is the problem. Most Farang can afford this. It's the proportionate cost of these park entrance fees compared to other prices that is outrageous.

Compare the park entrance fee, to say the price of a hotel room. The park entrance fees are similar (if not even a bit higher!) than a room in a rural Thai hotel.

So, translated to UK terms, we'd have to pay £50 to £100 to enter our National Parks!!! ($100-$200 USD) At present we pay NOTHING to enter a National Park in Britain. Even if we did, and for the sake of argument, the price would probably be £5 or so ($10 USD). This is the kind of fee we pay for an "attraction" or car parking perhaps at some beauty spot. As I said, National Parks are free, and other equivalent attractions come to about one tenth the price of a hotel room. It would be unheard of, to differentiate in pricing between Nationals & foreigners. It would probably be illegal to do so under race relations or discrimination laws.

Also, our National Parks extend for hundreds of miles, whereas in Thailand, you may often be paying your 200 / 400 baht several times per day, for what the other poster described as a dried up trickle of a waterfall.

Yeah, 400 baht isn't much in itself, but it's disproportionatley expensive compared to other Thai costs, and poor value for what you get in many cases.

How much of the area surrounding Chiang Mai is actually national park land and therefore subject to the 400 B charge?
We are planning on touring out for days in January and don't want us all to be hit every day..! Or does it only apply when you get off the main routes?

quote:
[hr] How much of the area surrounding Chiang Mai is actually national park land and therefore subject to the 400 B charge?
We are planning on touring out for days in January and don't want us all to be hit every day..! Or does it only apply when you get off the main routes?

Thanks,

Tomo.
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Tomo-
You can go most anywhere around Chiang Mai/MHS and not worry about having to pay the fee, unless you are a waterfall lover and insist on entering those areas. Doi Intahnon would be the only place where you may really want to go and will have to pay. That can be avoided if you want to enter the park from Mae Chaem if you are doing the MHS loop counterclockwise OR if you drive from Chiang Mai to Hot, and then come in the back way through Mae Chaem. Overall the park fees are not a worry.

Agreed. On a tour around the loop, I'd only pay the fees once or twice. Doi Inthanon is worth it, but the lesser sites, where you pay to ride / walk just few hundred metres to see something (yes, normally a waterfall) aren't really worth it.

I used to like Pond Deud Hot Springs though (fee payable). Have they finished building that new thing yet, probably a new hotel or resort, and has it spolit the springs?

I think that even for a farrang, 400b is pretty expensive... 400b translates to about $12Au... In Australia all national parks charge you to take a vehicle in (not to walk) and the price is about between $7Au and $11Au/day...

I probably wouldn't mind if the fee was 400b, but when you realised that all that there was to see was a small waterfall, you could jump back on your bike and visit the next park (usually only 10km down the road) included. 400b/day is much more reasonable